The
U.S. Department
of Defense's primary responsibility -- in fact, its raison d'être
-- is national security and providing military forces to deter war,
yet it blows tens of billions of dollars on preposterous things unrelated
to its true reason for existing, according to an Inside-the-Beltway
watchdog on Tuesday.

A
variety of unimaginable examples are featured in a biting report published
by a Republican U.S. Senator, who asserts that the Pentagon could easily
save around $70 billion over ten years without cutting any Army brigade
combat teams, Navy combat ships or Air Force fighter squadrons, a Judicial
Watch release stated. It could be done simply by getting rid of
the waste, according to the report's findings. www.judicialwatch.org

Senator
Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) released an oversight
report, “Department of Everything,” which outlined how
the DOD can save $67.9 billion over ten years by making specific cuts
to what Dr. Coburn describes as “non-defense” defense spending
– spending that DOD can cut without cutting vital defense priorities.

“I
believe in peace through strength but we cannot be strong militarily
unless we are strong economically. And we cannot be strong economically
if we treat politically-sensitive areas of the budget as sacrosanct.
At a time when our own military leaders are calling our debt our greatest
national security threat we need to look at every area of the budget
for potential savings. No part of the budget can be taken off the table.
Achieving peace through strength, and getting our debt under control,
must involve refocusing the Pentagon on its core mission,” said
Dr.
Coburn.

“That
isn’t happening. Billions of defense dollars are being spent on
programs and missions that have little or nothing to do with national
security, or are already being performed by other government agencies.
Spending more on grocery stores than guns doesn’t make any sense.
And using defense dollars to run microbreweries, study Twitter slang,
create beef jerky, or examine Star Trek does nothing to defend our nation,”
said the political
veteran.

The
$67.9 billion in savings in the “Department of Everything”
report could pay for a third of the cost of the planned fleet of new
strategic bombers for the Air Force. It could, likewise, pay a third
of the cost of the fleet of Ohio-class replacement nuclear submarines
for the Navy. For the Army, $16 billion over ten years – about
25 percent of the savings in the report – could mean robust funding
for modernization or purchase of new rifles and light machine guns for
every soldier.

That’s
because the DOD
has a set annual budget, that is only 18 percent of the entire federal
budget, with a large chunk going to non-defense projects that are tough
to justify as defense expenses.

For
instance, the Senator Coburn's probe reveals that the Pentagon funded
$6 billion in studies that have little or nothing to do with national
defense or medical needs related to military service.

In
one study, according to Judicial
Watch, an anthropologist at a public California university got $681,387
to examine whether men holding pistols are viewed as taller, stronger
and more masculine than those wielding objects such as saws, paint brushes
and caulking guns. That study revealed that guys with guns do in fact
appear bigger, stronger and more masculine.

In
another example, Judicial Watch pointed out that for a $5.2 million
grant researchers at an Ivy League university found that golden shiner
fish could show the nation how to overcome political polarization and
promote democracy.

Meanwhile,
the Office
of Naval Research spent $450,000 to study how babies interact with
robots. The DOD also burned $700 million on “duplicative and unnecessary
alternative energy” projects and $1.5 million to create its own
brand of beef jerky treats.

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The
Pentagon also spends more than $9 billion to operate 254 grocery stores
throughout the United States to benefit military retirees. Most of the
stores, known as commissaries, are actually located just blocks from
major chain grocery stores. The money spent on these questionable projects
could fund a third of the planned fleet of new strategic Air Force bombers,
according to the Sen. Tom Coburn, who exposed the waste.

“I
prepared this report because the American people expect the Pentagon’s
$600 billion annual budget to go toward our nation’s defense,”
Coburn said in a statement
posted on his official web site. “That isn’t happening.
Billions of defense dollars are being spent on programs and missions
that have little or nothing to do with national security, or are already
being performed by other government agencies.”

The $67.9 billion
in savings in the “Department of Everything” report could
pay for a third of the cost of the planned fleet of new strategic bombers
for the Air Force. It could, likewise, pay a third of the cost of the
fleet of Ohio-class replacement nuclear submarines for the Navy.